Akri Adds An App Launcher To The Right Of The iOS Lock Screen

The lock screen is perhaps, right alongside the Home screen, the most visited portion of iOS, or any mobile OS, really. With each major iteration, and in particular, after the introduction of the Notification Center and the relatively newer Control Center, the lock screen has become more capable, but the jailbreak store and its offerings always find new ways to spruce it up even further.

Currently still in development, Akri is an upcoming jailbreak tweak for iOS 9 that adds a simple, custom app launcher to the otherwise unused right side of the lock screen. The tweak, which is a collaboration between developers TweakWiz and Creatix, lets you manually choose the apps for which you want it to add shortcuts to the lock screen, then creates a separate “page” for each to the right of the lock screen.

At the lock screen, all you have to do is swipe to the left and tap the icon in the middle of the screen to access the first app in the list, or continue swiping leftwards for the rest. Apps are added from the preferences menu the tweak adds for itself in the Settings app, which also allows you to edit the order in which their shortcuts appear on the lock screen. As far as we can tell, the tweak seems to be able to display shortcuts for an unlimited number of apps, or at least a finite number large enough to house all your favorite ones.

After you launch an app from the lock screen, backing out of the app (by hitting the Home button, switching to the app switcher, for example) will put the screen on standby, effectively returning your device to its lock screen. Apart from saving users the trouble of locking their devices backup, as a true lock screen launcher should, this is essential for those who have a passcode set up. Likely in an effort to make accessing chosen apps as snappy as possible, the tweak does not ask for your passcode each time you open an app. Instead, you’ll need to enter your passcode within the tweak’s settings, allowing it to temporarily bypass said screen.

In its current version, the tweak’s aforementioned ability to re-lock the device doesn’t seem to cater for the Notification Center, which means that after launching one of your lock screen shortcuts, users will be able to access any app on your device that has a notification within the Notification Center without having to know your passcode. However, as mentioned earlier, the tweak is still in beta, and if there’s a way around this, there’s a chance the developer will implement it in the final build.

If the tweak’s concept and its simple, stock-inspired design tickles your fancy, keep an eye on this post. We’ll be sure to update it as soon as Akri is released.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to check out our Cydia tweaks section.

I'm an engineer, blogger, and graphic designer who loves creating and experimenting with different forms of online content when he's not looking for a mix of inspiration and escape in PC gaming, comic books and anime. You can find me on Twitter and Google+.